Holding a bearing in the field: leapfrogging, aiming off, detours

Without fixed reference points, people almost always drift sideways as they walk. Uneven ground, obstacles, one leg being a little stronger, or the urge to avoid a bush – all of this shifts the direction a little. In completely uniform terrain, such as thick fog, these deviations can become so large that people walk in an arc or even in a circle.

The techniques in this entry fight this drift in different ways. Intermediate targets and aligning each other in a group split the distance into short pieces on which hardly any deviation can build up. Aiming off uses the unavoidable error deliberately. And a right-angle detour takes you around an obstacle so that afterwards you are back exactly on the old line.

Intermediate targets: hold the set compass in front of you, look along the direction arrow and pick a distinctive point – an unusual tree, a boulder. Walk to it without constantly looking at the compass, and take a new sighting from there. The poorer the visibility, the shorter the legs. Choose points you cannot mix up; in a forest many trees suddenly look the same up close.

Leapfrogging in a group: if there are no usable target points, for example in fog or on a snowfield, one person walks ahead until they are just still clearly visible. The person with the compass directs them left or right by voice or hand signals until they stand exactly on the line. Then the group moves up to them and it starts again. It is slow but very accurate.

Aiming off: if your destination lies on a long line – a path, stream or forest edge – you deliberately aim a few degrees to one side. When you then hit the line, you know for certain which way to turn. If you aimed straight at the target and narrowly missed it, you would not know whether it lay to your left or right. Note down which side you aimed off to.

If an obstacle is in the way – a pond, a thicket, a rock step – you can go around it at right angles. Turn 90 degrees to one side and count your paces until you are past the obstacle. Then walk alongside it, parallel to your original direction. After that, turn 90 degrees back towards the middle and walk exactly the same number of paces. Now you are back on your old line and pick up the bearing again.

Do not forget to add the stretch along the obstacle to your total distance – it also moves you forward in your direction of travel. If the obstacle is small and you can see over it, it is often simpler: sight a point on the other side, walk across, carry on.

A back bearing helps you check: look back now and then. If your starting point or a distinctive point behind you lies exactly in the opposite direction, you are on course. This also works when no target points can be seen ahead at all.

A straight line on the map says nothing about whether the terrain in between is passable. Always go around cliffs, water, avalanche slopes and rockfall terrain – even if that means a detour and some arithmetic. If you cannot safely bypass a dangerous section, turn back. If there is a safe path nearby, it is almost always the better choice than a cross-country bearing.

When leapfrogging, the person ahead must always stay within sight or earshot. At dusk or in thick fog, choose shorter distances. A torch or bright clothing makes them easier to see.

Practise in a forest you know, with a target you cannot miss – for example a wide path. Take a bearing on a point on it, walk using intermediate targets, and see how close you come out. Then try the same with aiming off and compare how much easier the finding becomes.

You can practise the right-angle detour on a field by imagining an obstacle. Leapfrogging is fun with family or friends and shows strikingly how far you stray from the line without help.